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“You can say that if you want to, but it takes a strength of character to decide you don’t like the path you’re on, even though it’s a profitable one, and instead you’re going to change directions. Especially for someone who’s been as successful as you are. To give it all up. That means something.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I know I am. And I admire you. I look up to you. And I...like you.”
“And that right there made every second of the flight here and back, every bit of hassle, completely worth it.” He grinned a little at her, and she returned it.
He didn’t say anything more, although she kind of wished he would. Maybe he could say that they should have a relationship when he got to Strawberry Sands. They could work on building something. That maybe they would be good together. That he was interested in a romance that would lead to marriage and family... But he might not be marriage and family material. She’d suspected as much just knowing him for the last seven years, but after hearing his history, she would almost guarantee that’s what he would say about himself. That he wasn’t family material.
“How much more are you going to do in here tonight?” he asked as they turned back and looked at the office that was partially boxed up.
“I guess that’s as good a place to quit as any. Honestly, it’s harder for me to box up your office than it was mine or the break room. I... I just... You just seem to be a part of this. And I’ve struggled. That’s why I kept it until last.”
“It’s just a building. Just an office. Just a place.”
“The place where you’ve done a lot of business. A place where I grew a lot as a person. A place where I learned a lot. And you give yourself a hard time, but you were always very patient with me. I was scared to death of you in the first years, and you had to have known it, but you never gave me a hard time. Even when I spilled that coffee on you.”
He barked out a laugh. “I totally forgot about that. And yeah, I knew it was because you were terrified. And I didn’t mean to be so intimidating. I actually admired you, because even though you were scared, and I could tell it, you still smiled at me. You still greeted me like a friend. You still treated me like a human being, not like I was some kind of high-powered businessperson that didn’t need someone to be friendly and nice to me.”
She laughed a little. “I definitely thought you were some kind of high-powered businessperson. My dad used to say about people who thought they were really important, that they put their pants on one leg at a time just like he did. But I guess what I like to do is say to myself, God loves them too. They are God’s child. God died for them. And that reminds me that in front of God, we’re all on equal footing. You know?”
“Maybe that was the example I needed. And I must be a slow learner because I needed it for seven years before God finally got a hold of me.”
She slanted a grin at him, and he smiled back at her, and for the first time, she felt like they were more equals than boss and subordinate, even though she wasn’t confused about who gave the orders or who owned the company. It was just... He was her friend too. And she liked that.
Chapter 14
“Rodney? Are you awake?”
Rodney blinked in the darkness of his room. Of course he was awake.
“Yeah?”
Becky was snuggled up next to him, lying on top of the covers, having grabbed the blanket that sat on the chair by the sliding glass doors that he always left unlocked now.
He knew she considered him like an older brother. And in some ways, he looked at her like a little sister. But in other ways, he knew very well that what they were doing could get him into a big pile of trouble. Huge trouble.
